Effective teaching and learning

I've started my pre-course reading. The first topic I'm tackling is "Effective teaching and learning," which apparently:

• Equips learners for life in its broadest sense
• Engages with valued forms of knowledge
• Recognises the importance of prior experience and learning
• Requires the teacher to scaffold learning
• Needs assessment to be congruent with learning
• Promotes the active engagement of the learner
• Fosters both individual and social processes and outcomes
• Depends on teacher learning
• Recognises the significance of informal learning
• Demands consistent policy frameworks with support for teaching and learning as their primary focus

The article then goes on to break all ten of those points down in wordy paragraphs. Good points, to be sure, but a little too analytical for me. Despite being a bit of a nerd about the topic, it was enough to make my head want to explode. Effective teaching and learning, for me, is relevant and engaging. That's it.

What knowledge/skills/attributes do I want my students to gain or develop? What relevant knowledge/skills/attributes do they already possess? What's the most effective way of bridging the gap between point B and point A?

Relevant: This word has a couple of meanings in this context. The material being learned should build on something they already know and it should be of some use or interest to them. Ideally, this use or interest should be made apparent.

Engaging: I don't necessarily mean this in the sense of "OMG every lesson must be FUN!" I do believe in having fun with learning whenever possible, but fun is a tool that can be misused and abused and sometimes misses the point. When I say engaging, I mean that students should engage with the material. They should use it, manipulate it, apply it, question it, and test it. This makes the learning stick, it makes it useful to them in a variety of contexts, and it also develops their ability to think and to learn. 

The rest of that stuff about valued forms of knowledge and congruent assessment et al. seems kind of implied, but perhaps I'm taking it for granted. What do you think? What does effective teaching and learning involve from your point of view?

As good as new

The time has come to reinvent this blog. It began as a peephole into the life of a transplanted Canadian learning what it meant to work as a TA in inner London. It's been nearly 3 years now, and while I continue to learn and discover new things, I am well and truly settled. Britain is as much my home (if not more) as Canada ever was and I only have 6 weeks left of working as a TA. Soon, I will be learning what it means to be a trainee teacher.

I am beyond thrilled to have been accepted by one of the top teacher training providers in the world. I've wanted to be a teacher since I was 13 years old and now that I'm coming up to 29, it's definitely time. I feel as well-prepared as I could ever possibly be. I am also terrified. 

I know that the year ahead is going to be a challenge. I know that I'm going to have to fight my inner procrastinator with everything I have if I'm going to survive. I know that my current sense of confidence is likely to be crushed, then hopefully rebuilt. I know there's a very real possibility that one or both of my placement schools will make my life a living hell. But I was born to teach, and that's what I will do. I will rise from the ashes. I've gotten this far, and I will not let anything or anyone (including myself) take that away from me.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like this blog to turn into a place for me to wrap my head around ideas, trials, and tribulations. If you're not into that sort of thing, I won't be offended if you stop reading. Hopefully there are others out there who can benefit from and/or add to my experiences. 

So on that note... welcome to a day in the trenches.